1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device. In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing device for taking and displaying pictures electronically, and when displayed, the pictures can be either enlarged or reduced.
2. Description of Related Art
With the progress of electronic circuits, electronic cameras have become widespread which use photoelectric conversion elements to electrically process picture images.
Such electronic cameras often have a liquid crystal display (LCD). The LCD, referred to as an electronic viewfinder, is used for displaying the picture images and provides real-time picture images of the objects or subjects being photographed by the user at the time of taking the picture which will be referred to hereinafter as “shooting the object”.
FIGS. 15 and 16 show an example of a conventional electronic camera 81. In the electronic camera 81, light from the object that enters through a shooting lens 101 is converted into electrical signals by a photoelectric conversion element (not shown in the figure) and the electrical signals are digitized to create image data.
Then, by displaying the image data on a LCD 106, the user can confirm the object being photographed.
When a release switch 102 is pressed by the user, an image of the object at that time is taken, i.e., shot, and image data corresponding to the image is stored in a built-in memory (not shown in the figure).
In addition, operating a focal length changing switch 107 changes the focal length of the shooting lens 101, for example, between either a “NORMAL” mode or a “TELEPHOTO” mode. When the focal length changing switch 107 is switched to the “TELEPHOTO” mode, the shooting lens 101 is adjusted so that the focal length becomes longer, and the image of the object becomes larger than the image in the “NORMAL” mode and is displayed on the LCD 106. In such manner, images of the object can be shot in either the “NORMAL” or “TELEPHOTO” modes.
In addition, by operating a specified operating button (not shown), an image, shown by example in FIG. 17, that has been previously taken can be retrieved from storage in the memory and displayed on the LCD 106. Now, the image displayed on the LCD 106 (FIG. 17) can be enlarged as shown in FIG. 18 by pressing a zoom button 105.
Moreover, if a minus (−) switch 103 is pressed while the image in FIG. 18 is being displayed, an enlarged left-side of the image in FIG. 17 is displayed as shown in FIG. 19. Conversely, if a plus (+) switch 104 is pressed while the image in FIG. 18 is being displayed, an enlarged right side of the image in FIG. 17 is displayed as shown in FIG. 20.
Furthermore, by pressing the zoom button 105 again while the image in either FIGS. 18–20 is being displayed, the image reduced to its original size as shown in FIG. 17 is displayed.
As described above, the focal length can be changed at the time of shooting the object by operating the focal length changing switch 107. Thus, the object is displayed as enlarged on the LCD 106. In addition, when displaying images retrieved from the memory i.e., the recorded images, operating the zoom button 105 enlarges the image displayed on the LCD 106.
However, for the similar operations to enlarge the image displayed in the LCD 106, the focal length changing switch 107 is used at the time of shooting images and the zoom button 105 is used at the time of displaying the images retrieved from the memory. Therefore, a problem arises in that the user can be easily confused by these operations. Thus, the user can easily misuse the electronic camera, e.g., by pressing the wrong button.
Moreover, due to providing two operating components, i.e., the zoom button 105 and the focal length changing switch 107, as described above, another problem is that the number of operating components is increased. As a result, the external appearance of the device is tainted.